Various improvements have been proposed to enhance the performance of semiconductor light emitting diodes (LED). For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,307,218, entitled “Electrode structures for light emitting device” and assigned to LumiLeds Lighting, U.S., LLC, discloses finger type electrode layouts to solve the current crowding issue in semiconductor LEDs.
Nevertheless, further improvements may still be desirable. For example, few conventional designs have considered heat dissipation and/or energy consumption issues. Such issues may become more noticeable if the LEDs have a relatively large size.
In addition, in order to achieve good current spreading in the semiconductor layers and to avoid overheating in partial areas caused by possible relatively high current in such areas, the design of the '218 patent may need to have a relatively compact electrode layout design. As a result, the opening area for light emission may be unnecessarily small, which may not be desirable, either.